Vegetable Pakoras

Vegetable Pakoras are crispy, golden fritters made by coating a mix of red pepper, courgette, red onion, and cauliflower in a spiced gram flour batter and deep frying until perfectly crisp. They’re gently flavoured with warming spices like turmeric, cumin, and garam masala, with a touch of green chilli for heat. Served with a cool yogurt, coriander, and cumin dip, they’re a deliciously light and crunchy snack or appetiser.

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Total Time 30

Servings Portions

Ingredients

For the vegetables:

1 large red pepper chopped into chunks
1 large courgette chopped into batons
1 large red onion chopped into wedges
200 g cauliflower in florets

For the dip:

50 g fresh coriander finely chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds lightly crushed
150 g natural yogurt 0% fat

For the batter:

Instructions

Prepare all the vegetables. When preparing the onion, peel and carefully trim only the ends, as leaving the root intact holds the wedges together.
1 large red pepper, 1 large courgette, 1 large red onion, 200 g cauliflower
In a dish, stir together all of the ingredients for the dip together and place in the fridge.
50 g fresh coriander, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 150 g natural yogurt
Mix together the gram flour, all the spices, chilli and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl, and then mix in the water slowly. The batter should be the consistency of thick cream.
100 g gram flour, 1 tsp ground turmeric, 1 tsp garam masala, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 large green chilli, 1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda, 100 ml water, 1 tsp ground coriander
Heat the oil in a saucepan to 180°C. If you don’t have a thermometer, then test the oil with a small blob of batter. (If the oil is hot enough, the batter should start frying straight away and float to the top.)
400 ml rapeseed oil
Add the vegetables to the batter and mix them around so they’re all coated. Pick them out with a spoon and carefully drop into the hot oil – a few at a time. Cook the pakoras for 3–4 minutes.
When golden brown, remove the pakoras with a slotted spoon and place on kitchen paper to drain. Repeat until all of the pakoras are cooked. Serve with the dip.

Notes

Recipe tips for Vegetable Pakoras:

Due to the fact that the vegetable pakoras are fried, they are meant as an occasional treat.

To make sure that the pakoras are not too fatty, the oil needs to be hot enough – in this case, 180ºC. This way, the cooking time will be less and the vegetables won’t be in the oil for very long. Using a cook’s thermometer is a good way of making sure the oil is at the right temperature.

It’s possible to use a recipe for baked pakoras to reduce the amount of fat, but you need bigger pieces of vegetable chunks and a thicker batter. This way, the pakoras will hold together better.

Make sure you use the right type of oil – and avoid ghee or dripping. Use rapeseed oil, as it’s better for the cooking process and is an unsaturated fat. Olive oil isn’t suited to frying.

You could use most vegetables in this batter – try broccoli, aubergine, carrot sticks, spring onions, asparagus, baby corn or mushrooms.

Nutrition